Today, 19 September 2013, is the 120th anniversary of all New Zealand women gaining the right to vote in parliamentary elections – a world first. Most of us – male or female – don’t think about it much, or at all. Come election day, we take it for granted that all New Zealand citizens will cast their vote as they see fit. And that’s a lovely thing – one fight over and done with. The push for gender equality moved on to other issues (you can track some of them in Te Ara’s stories on the Women’s movement and Gender inequalities).

The fight for women’s suffrage is a good story though, with fierce campaigning, deep conviction vehemently expressed, conniving and cheating, money and the drive to maintain power, ambivalence on the part of some politicians despite their genuine support of the move, differences among the campaigners and conflict between men. The minor celebrations of women’s suffrage – campaigner Kate Sheppard on the $10 note, memorials of one kind or another scattered through New Zealand cities – do little to give a sense of how exciting it was, the fear women felt when they stood and spoke on a public stage, and the delight of the first election in which women could participate.

The campaign for women’s suffrage did not stand alone – it was part of the push to get the suffrage extended to all competent citizens, regardless of property ownership or gender (for more on this, see Voting rights). But in New Zealand women getting the vote caused more controversy, generating heat in a way none of the other extensions of suffrage did.